[imagesource: Avatar/20th Century Fox]

It’s an unpopular opinion, but I didn’t enjoy James Cameron’s Avatar.

Think about it – it’s basically Pocahontas in space.

Regardless, it was the highest-grossing film of all time until Avengers knocked it out of the top spot, so what do I know?

Fans of the film have been eagerly awaiting the sequel. I assume in this one Captain John Smith Jake Sully will take Pocahontas Neytiri to his home planet, thereby making her very uncomfortable and exposing the horrors of Earth.

Jokes aside, here’s CinemaBlend with the actual plot:

The sequel will once again feature Sully and Neytiri, who were recently revealed to have a family of their own. A slew of new characters are set to appear, as well as familiar faces and even Stephen Lang’s villainous Miles Quaritch, despite his apparent death in the first Avatar.

Avatar 2 is currently set for release on December 17, 2021, provided they can start filming.

As it stands, the international crew of Avatar 2 has been given special permission to enter New Zealand to start work.

This hasn’t gone down well with New Zealanders, according to The Guardian.

The country’s tourism industry, heavily reliant on overseas visitors, has taken a massive hit, and many families and couples have been separated for months by the measures. Many businesses have also struggled to bring workers stuck overseas home.

So news that Avatar director James Cameron and 55 members of his crew had arrived in the country on a privately chartered plane over the weekend angered many.

At the time of their arrival, the country was closed to all foreign nationals, as part of the coronavirus lockdown, but it looks like a different set of rules for Cameron and his crew.

Businesses are particularly upset, such as those in the dairy industry who have been unable to bring employees home, despite the fact that they’ve worked in the country for years.

Tom Hargreaves, a dairy farmer, told RNZ it was frustrating the Avatar crew were allowed in but not his second-in-command from Uruguay, who was indispensable to his farm. Her absence meant her colleagues were having to work overtime to cover her workload.

Hargreaves’ employee has worked in New Zealand for four years and only returned to Uruguay on a flying visit home when the borders closed behind her. Dairy workers are classified as essential workers, but Hargreaves said multiple attempts to get her back had failed.

Meanwhile, the Avatar 2 crew seems to be having a great time.

Jon Landau (famous for his work on Titanic) has been posting updates on Instagram.

Here he is arriving in New Zealand with James Cameron:

And here’s one of the sets for Avatar 2:

New Zealand has a complicated history with the film industry. Look into the controversial ‘Hobbit Law’ that hung like a dark cloud over the filming of The Lord of The Rings for insight into the ways that the country often panders to the film industry while screwing over its citizens.

Will this be another Hobbit Law adjacent scandal?

Let’s see.

[sources:cinemablend&guardian]